Hyderabad: BJP in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday termed actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi's announcement of merging his Praja Rajyam Party with Congress as an "opportunist politics."
Chiranjeevi who had floated the party under the slogan of "social justice and welfare of downtrodden" has decided to merge with Congress - a party which never worked for these causes, BJP state Party Chief G Kishan Reddy told PTI.
"It is a 'U' turn for Chiranjeevi who formed his party criticising corrupt and wrong policies of Congress," he said and termed the move as "opportunism".
"PRP is a sinking ship and Chiranjeevi has no capacity to run a political party," Reddy added.
Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya said, "it was unfortunate that Chiranjeevi has decided to merge his party with Congress for selfish political gain and provide employment to his partymen in Congress."
Main opposition TDP also slammed the PRP chief for merging his party with Congress, while TRS did not appear to be worried over the development.
"This is a sell out to the Congress," senior TDP MLA D Narendra alleged.
Former TRS MP B Vinod Kumar, meanwhile, said mergers and splits in political parties are common in India.
"We don't think the merger of Congress and PRP is going to delay or affect the formation of separate Telangana. Praja Rajyam has already said they will abide by whatever decision is taken by the Centre," he told PTI.
State Congress spokesman N Thulasi Reddy too hailed the merger of Congress and Praja Rajyam.
After months of back-channel efforts, Chiranjeevi met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Sunday and announced the merger of PRP with the ruling party at the Centre.
Senior Congress leader and Defence Minister AK Antony had flew to Hyderabad last week and invited Chiranjeevi for talks with the Congress president.
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